January 3, 2007

CUBIST GEARS UP FOR HIGH-DEF DVD WORK

The company's DVD development lab had been evaluating numerous systems for the past several months.

"Our lab included both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc set-top players, allowing us to demonstrate both versions to our clients," explains Phil Erney, technical operations manager at the Cubist lab. "Most had seen one or the other, but had never been able to compare the two,"

"We, and other industry leaders, firmly believe that there will be two versions of high definition DVD," adds Cubist CEO John Ballentyne. "It's not a Betamax versus VHS situation this time. Just as there are PCs and Macs, and iPods and MP3 players, there will be HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs."

In Post's December issue, Ballentyne cited next generation DVD as the future of DVD because "both HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc offer superior-quality HD images and new levels of interactivity, like pop-up menu interfaces and network connectivity. A challenge for most post houses is the high cost of encoding and professional authoring tools." However, he adds, "we knew we needed to make the commitment now if we were to maintain our leadership role in adopting new technologies."

Ballentyne notes that at the end of 2006, there were fewer than 20 companies in the US with next generation DVD development capabilities, and most are on the West Coast, making Cubist one of the East Coast's pioneers.

"The public in general is becoming more familiar with high definition and will insist on it," he says. "More than half the homes in the US are expected to have an HD-ready display by 2008. In the end consumers will see that high definition will give them crisper colors, text that is easier to read and audio that supercharges the viewing experience. At Cubist, we have a history of exploiting emerging technologies for the benefit of our clients and the move to next generation DVD is a natural evolution in our growth."